Upgrade Advice

[marcus]

Given a budget of ?5-700 to purchase a MOBO, CPU and GFX card, what are your thoughts on the way to go?

Used primarily as a games machine, I already have a Raptor drive and Corsair 2GB of memory to use, although I will need to buy a new case.

Would it be wise to look at a SLI solution due to the possibility of using SLI at some point in the future, Im warming to this idea as for now Id only be purchasing one graphics card but further down the line Id prefer to simply purchase another to gain performance than have to upgrade the MOBO/CPU again, so it may give me that added option.

Any advice is appreciated as always.

[wod]

what are you upgrade from ?

you could go for a amd 64 cpu , pci express motherboard and pci express graphics card

a decent graphics card would cost around 300+

do you play alot of pc games otherwise a 7800gt would play the games still but not at high detail ?

[marcus]

At present I have a AGP mobo, A64 3500 with a PowerColor X800Pro GFX card in a Shuttle XPC case.

Im wanting to play games at highest detail, one thing I have to my advantage is that Im limited by my display which is limited to 1280 x 720 or thereabouts so what I lose in resolution I could compensate for in detail elsewhere.

I expect Ill got for a AMD again, but am not sure if to go DualCore as Im not likely to be doing multiple processes at once (ie gaming, and burning at the same time), and Ive heard that there isnt a great deal of benefit to them right now, although future proofing is a consideration.

[oblivion_6]

tbh i would take the cpu with me and get a asus a8n-sli board (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uid=98587)then get a decent pci-e card

the 7800 gt is a decent card and is only a few fps behind its 7800GTX and like you say your limited to 1024x768 so it would be a waste of power to go more i reckon

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=96312 not bad for under


?400 all in, all you would need on top i reckon is a decent 550w psu

[marcus]

Good advice mate, the CPU isnt exactly bad is it.

[marcus]

Ive whittled it down to the following, which weighs in at just under the ?700 budget. These are OCUK prices.

BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-009-BG) 1
?285.30 ?285.30

CoolerMaster Stacker STC-T01 - Silver Trim (No PSU) (CA-054-CM) 1
?98.50 ?98.50

Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-118-AS) 1
?129.95 ?129.95

Tagan TG580-U15 580W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-009-TG)

The option to use SLI is there with the Mobo, whilst the PSU is also enough to support two cards. For now it will be more than I need Im sure, but its future proof and upgradeable with a 2nd card if need be. I like the look of the case, but I also liked the look of the silver coolermaster, but the spaciousness of the case above swayed me.

[oblivion_6]

not bad but i still say the GTX is a waste of money, the difference between it and the GT are very slight, go have a wee look on google (saying that the price youve found the gtx for is decent)

Its a nice future safe system for the days when you want to run things 1600x1200 with AA and all the nutz on

[wod]

thats a very good spec but hope you have a lot of room for that case as i have one and its massive but worth it for the room in side

very nice motherboard too as it has True Dual X16 SLI

[marcus]

Thats the reason I went for that mobo Wod, it wasnt much more than any of the others really. Oblivion I think Im going to stick with the GTX, it is ?100 more I admit but I feel Id be happier knowing Id bought the best card I could realistically afford at this time. Wod the case appears to me to be quite large, I hope its enough.

[wod]

the case will easy fit a sli setup in it and full water cooling would fit aswell its that big

its just a beast of a case i haven't even filled mine up

btx compatible aswell so saves money for when that is the standard

[marcus]

All done, Ill let you guys know how it goes, thanks again for your help

[oblivion_6]

No probs

post us some 3dscores and **** like that, you know how much us nerds luv that

[eastyy]

I made a HUGE mistake when buying a motherboard

I wanted a new motherboard so it was pci express but keep my existing processor.
I bought a 939 board turns out it was a 754 needed that will teach me for not paying attention

[Gerry Helmet]

Im looking for a new motherboard for my wee brother,

Thing is I know F'all about MB's. Needs to be PCI express and take a Pentium 4.

Any Idea's ?

[marcus]

Everything has arrived today, Ill be spending this evening building it I should think. First thing is the case, its MUCh bigger than I was expecting, I was debating using it as my Server due to the large amount of space in it, but think ill keep it as my games box as intended. The PSU weighs a tonne too.